Page 37 of The Boss

I square my shoulders. “All right. Sorry for taking so long in the bathroom.” I check to make sure I still have my bag and the present inside it.

“Ted,” Julianna calls to her brother, whose back is turned while looking out the window. “Let Alessa meet Jordan before you two are caught up in the party.”

Ted’s face lights up, but it’s not because of me. It’s because of the person approaching from behind, whose hand grazes mine on his way by.

“Allow me to introduce you to my fiancé, Jordan,” Ted says with excitement in his guttural voice. I dive into my bag and pull out my gift. Julianna groans beside me once she realizes what it is. “Jordan, this is Julianna’s new honey. What do youthink? Should we invite her for tea and crumpets while we’re in Portland?”

“Pleasure to finally meet…” I hold my gift out to Jordan.

The man I smacked with the bathroom door not five minutes ago.

“…You.”

Oh my God, girl, be cool!

Jordan and Ted exchange married-people glances. “Thanks, Jules,” Ted says to his sister. “I see you yet again haven’t told one of your girlfriends that I’malsogay.”

Chapter 16

Julianna

Ihonestly didn’t think it was pertinent. Look at me, after all.

But I left out some crucial information somewhere. I was so caught up in making sure Alessa knew about my mother’s unflattering personality that I completely overlooked that Jordan is a man and maybe my girlfriend might like to know that.

Especially if she planned on bringing a gift, which I never told her to do.

“I got you a present,” Alessa says through gritted teeth. The grit is for me, not them. My fault, is it? Even Ted is giving me one of his classic big brother looks that says he’s going to whomp my ass as soon as Mother and Father are looking in the other direction. “Granted, I had made… stupid assumptions…”

She’s embarrassed. So embarrassed that she goes beet red as Jordan takes the small gift bag full of frivolous bathing items.

“Doesn’t everyone love these things?” Jordan takes a whiff. Ted’s shoulders ease from the diffused tension. “Thank you so much, Alessa. We’ll make sure it doesn’t go unappreciated.”

“Look over there, isn’t that Karla Langley? We should say hi.” Ted gently nudges his fiancé in the direction of a young socialite dressed to kill in this Oregonian fog. Isn’t she cold in that sleeveless sundress? Even Alessa had the foresight to wear a sweater to this drafty place. “We’ll catch up with you two later.” My brother winks at my girlfriend. “Thank you for the gift.”

The couple moves on, leaving Alessa and me to stand here, appalled with one another.

“You didn’t say…”

“Sorry.”

Let me tell you what happens when your big, masculine brother who is smarter than Harvard and better looking than a supermodel comes home and says,“Mom, Dad, I’m a queer.”Nothing. Nothing happens. We don’t talk about it. We’re not supposed to talk about it. When I was a kid, we didn’t talk about homosexuality because it was taboo. My mother called it a“Stain on good names, but men can’t help themselves. Women, though, they should know better.”These days, when gay marriage isn’t only legal but celebrated by even the most well-to-do families, we don’t talk about it because it’s unbecoming for other reasons. Political correctness tells us to not make a big deal about it, especially if your mother is someone who fired a lady-in-waiting for having a short haircut and refusing to wear a skirt.

Ah, yes, imagine how my mother took the news of Ted’s coming out a few years ago.

I had known for much longer, of course. It’s always been normal to me. Ted had girlfriends when I was growing up, but he preferred to spend his free time with other guys and had a stash of contraband in his room that I, unfortunately, came across one day when I was looking for shit to get back at him with – as Irecall, he had called me a bitch in front of a girl I liked. You don’t do that to a thirteen-year-old without expecting her to sneak into your room while you’re out at a party. I had gone in there to look for girly underwear, marijuana, or anything like that… instead, I found gay magazines. Not even porn. Political and lifestyle magazines for the discerning and young gay male.

To say it was an eye-opener is an understatement. And to say that it may have explained a few things about myself as well? I’m still trying to figure that out.

I don’t know exactly how my brother identifies anymore. Gay, bisexual, one of those. His last girlfriend was two years ago, and after they broke up, he told me that he wasn’t interested in marrying a woman, anyway.“That’ll be for you, Jules. Me? Think I’ll find a cute fella who can keep up with me in the business world. What do you think?”Told him he should stay out of my love life. By then, I had also been out for several years, and my dad was buried deep in golf and my mother drunk on self-righteous victimhood.

He got with Jordan shortly after the girlfriend. This past Christmas, they announced their engagement, with the bonus of a surrogate baby to follow. They had received word of the surrogate’s pregnancy and decided to tell us before the public New Year’s announcement.

So, my brother is getting married and having a baby. It’s probably “his,” too, since that would be the only way my family would recognize it as a legitimate heir. It’s not unusual for your big brother to do all that before you have the chance, right?

Ted really does get everything. The business, the properties (besides what I’ve lobbied for in my father’s will), the marriage, and the family… he may not be 100% traditional, but he gets it, nonetheless.

Our age difference makes me feel like I must hustle to achieve things I’m not even sure I want. Oh, I want a business and property. I’m still not sold on the marriage and family, though.

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